Workplace Risk Assessment Spain (Evaluación de Riesgos Laborales)

A Workplace Risk Assessment Spain (Evaluación de Riesgos Laborales) is a systematic process through which an employer identifies, evaluates, and prioritises occupational health and safety risks in the workplace, as mandated by Ley 31/1995, de 8 de noviembre, de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales (LPRL), Article 16.2, which establishes the evaluación de riesgos as the cornerstone preventive instrument for all employers in Spain, supplemented by Real Decreto 39/1997, de 17 de enero, por el que se aprueba el Reglamento de los Servicios de Prevención (RSP), which governs the organisation and management of occupational risk prevention.

The LPRL, which transposed EU Council Directive 89/391/EEC (Framework Directive on Safety and Health at Work) into Spanish law, establishes the general duty of every employer (empresario) to protect the safety and health of all workers in their service through the integration of preventive activity into the company's management systems — the principio de integración de la prevención (Article 16.1 LPRL). The evaluación de riesgos is the factual foundation of this preventive system — without a current and complete risk assessment, the employer cannot identify what measures are needed or demonstrate compliance to the Inspección de Trabajo y Seguridad Social (ITSS).

Article 16.2 LPRL establishes that the employer must conduct an initial risk assessment (evaluación inicial de riesgos) taking into account the nature of the activity, the work equipment used, the chemical, physical, and biological agents present, and the working conditions. The assessment must be updated whenever: (a) working conditions change; (b) new equipment, substances, or technologies are introduced; (c) damage to health (daño a la salud) occurs; or (d) the results of periodic health surveillance (vigilancia de la salud) indicate the need for review, under Article 16.2.a LPRL.

The RSP (Real Decreto 39/1997) classifies risks by probability (alta, media, baja) and severity (daño leve, daño grave, daño muy grave), producing a risk level matrix (nivel de riesgo): trivial, tolerable, moderado, importante, or intolerable. Each identified risk must be assigned preventive measures (medidas preventivas) with timescales for implementation, responsibility, and verification. Specific technical regulations supplement the LPRL framework for particular risks: Real Decreto 486/1997 (workplace conditions — lugares de trabajo), Real Decreto 487/1997 (manual handling of loads — manipulación manual de cargas), Real Decreto 488/1997 (display screen equipment — pantallas de visualización de datos — PVD), Real Decreto 665/1997 (biological agents), Real Decreto 374/2001 (chemical agents), Real Decreto 614/2001 (electrical risk), and Real Decreto 171/2004 (coordination of business activities — coordinación de actividades empresariales — CAE) for multi-employer workplaces.

The risk assessment must cover all workers (trabajadores) in the employer's service, including fixed-term and part-time workers, workers provided by Empresas de Trabajo Temporal (ETT) under Ley 14/1994, and, for remote workers, the specific risks of the home workplace under Ley 10/2021 de trabajo a distancia and Real Decreto 488/1997 (PVD risks). Special consideration must be given to particularly sensitive workers (trabajadores especialmente sensibles) under Article 25 LPRL — pregnant workers, nursing mothers, young workers under 18, and workers with recognised disabilities.

The Servicio de Prevención — whether internal (Servicio de Prevención Propio — SPP under Article 31 LPRL and the RSP), shared (Servicio de Prevención Mancomunado), or external (Servicio de Prevención Ajeno — SPA accredited by the Autoridad Laboral of the relevant autonomous community) — is responsible for conducting and maintaining the evaluación de riesgos. Companies with fewer than 6 workers may, in certain low-risk activities, have the employer personally assume preventive duties (asunción personal por parte del empresario) under Article 30.5 LPRL and Article 11 RSP.

A Workplace Risk Assessment Spain is legally required for every employer in Spain — Article 16 LPRL imposes the obligation without exception on all companies regardless of size, sector, or number of employees.

An Evaluación de Riesgos Laborales must be conducted as an initial assessment (evaluación inicial) when a new company begins its activity, when a new workplace is established, or when a new category of work or new work equipment is introduced — the assessment must be completed before workers begin the activity, not after.

The risk assessment must be updated when working conditions change materially — for example, when introducing new machinery (equipment subject to Real Decreto 1215/1997 sobre equipos de trabajo), new chemical agents (under Real Decreto 374/2001), new technologies, or new work organisation methods. After a workplace accident (accidente de trabajo) or occupational disease (enfermedad profesional) recognised by the Mutua Colaboradora con la Seguridad Social under Real Decreto 1299/2006, a review of the relevant risk assessment is mandatory.

The assessment is required specifically for telework (teletrabajo) positions under Ley 10/2021 de trabajo a distancia — the employer must evaluate risks at the worker's home or remote working location, including ergonomic risks (PVD under Real Decreto 488/1997), psychosocial risks, and connectivity and digital security risks, even though access to private homes requires the worker's consent under Article 16 Ley 10/2021.

A documented Evaluación de Riesgos Laborales is required for compliance with the Inspección de Trabajo y Seguridad Social (ITSS), which conducts workplace inspections under Ley 23/2015, de 21 de julio, Ordenadora del Sistema de Inspección de Trabajo y Seguridad Social. The ITSS inspector may request the assessment at any time — absence of a documented evaluation is an infracción grave (serious infraction) under Article 12.1 of Real Decreto Legislativo 5/2000 (LISOS), punishable by fines from €2,046 to €40,985.

The risk assessment is required before subcontracting work on a construction site under Real Decreto 1627/1997 (minimum health and safety requirements for construction works — obras de construcción), which requires a Plan de Seguridad y Salud (Health and Safety Plan) based on the coordinador de seguridad's Estudio de Seguridad y Salud. The subcontractor's risk assessment forms the basis of their Plan de Seguridad y Salud, submitted to the obra's coordinator and the Delegado de Prevención.

A valid Workplace Risk Assessment Spain under LPRL Ley 31/1995 Article 16.2 and RSP Real Decreto 39/1997 must contain the following essential elements to satisfy ITSS inspection requirements and demonstrate the employer's compliance with occupational risk prevention obligations.

Identification of the Company and Workplace: Full company name, NIF, registered address, and the specific workplace (centro de trabajo) assessed — its address, nature of activity (actividad económica), CNAE code, number of workers, and the applicable sector collective agreement (convenio colectivo sectorial) if relevant to workplace risk standards.

Identification of the Assessor: The name, qualification, and professional registration of the person(s) who conducted the assessment — the técnico de prevención (occupational safety specialist) under the RSP Article 36. Where the assessment is conducted by an external prevention service (Servicio de Prevención Ajeno — SPA), the SPA's accreditation number from the Autoridad Laboral must be stated. The assessment must be signed by the responsible técnico and the employer.

Description of Work Activities and Positions: A systematic inventory of all job positions (puestos de trabajo) and work activities performed at the workplace, including equipment used, substances handled, working postures, workload, and environmental conditions. Each position must be assessed individually, with reference to the specific tasks performed and the associated risks.

Risk Identification: A complete list of identified hazards (peligros) and the associated occupational risks, classified by type: physical risks (ruido — noise under Real Decreto 286/2006, vibrations — Real Decreto 1311/2005, thermal conditions, radiation); chemical risks (exposición a agentes químicos — Real Decreto 374/2001, including threshold limit values — TLV — published by the Instituto Nacional de Seguridad y Salud en el Trabajo — INSST); biological risks (agentes biológicos — Real Decreto 665/1997); ergonomic and psychosocial risks (carga física y mental, fatiga, estrés laboral — assessed using INSST validated methods such as FPSICO for psychosocial risks); and organisational risks.

Risk Evaluation Matrix: For each identified risk, the evaluation must determine: probability of occurrence (alta/media/baja); severity of potential harm (daño leve/grave/muy grave); and the resulting risk level (nivel de riesgo): trivial (T), tolerable (TO), moderado (M), importante (I), or intolerable (IN) — using the matrix methodology of the RSP Annex and the INSST's NTP 330 (simplified risk assessment method).

Preventive Measures and Action Plan (Plan de Acción): For each risk level above trivial, specific preventive measures (medidas preventivas) must be identified following the hierarchy of prevention under Article 15 LPRL: elimination; substitution; engineering controls (controles técnicos); administrative controls (controles organizativos — including safe work procedures, training, and health surveillance); and, as a last resort, personal protective equipment (EPIs — equipos de protección individual under Real Decreto 773/1997). Each measure must have a responsible person (responsable), an implementation deadline (plazo), and a priority.

Health Surveillance: The assessment must identify which workers require specific health monitoring (vigilancia de la salud) under Article 22 LPRL — periodic medical examinations (reconocimientos médicos periódicos) specific to the identified risks, conducted by the Servicio de Prevención's médico del trabajo.

Training and Information: Identification of the specific training requirements (formación en prevención de riesgos laborales) for each job position under Article 19 LPRL — including initial training, periodic refresher training, and any specialist training required (e.g. forklift operators under Real Decreto 1215/1997, chemical agents handlers under Real Decreto 374/2001).

Forms-legal.com provides this Workplace Risk Assessment Spain template as a starting framework — a thorough evaluación de riesgos laborales must be conducted by a qualified técnico de prevención registered with the RSP, using workplace-specific inspection and measurement methodologies. Employers should engage a Servicio de Prevención accredited by the Autoridad Laboral of the relevant autonomous community and consult with the Delegado de Prevención (workers' safety representative) under Article 36 LPRL throughout the process. The Mutua Colaboradora con la Seguridad Social provides free technical assistance to member companies on risk prevention under the LPRL framework.

Under the Estatuto de los Trabajadores (ET) RDL 2/2015, Spanish employment law governs contracts, dismissals, and working conditions. The Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social (TGSS) administers social security contributions. The Servicio Público de Empleo Estatal (SEPE) manages unemployment benefits. The Inspección de Trabajo y Seguridad Social enforces labour compliance. The Juzgados de lo Social hear employment disputes under the Ley Reguladora de la Jurisdicción Social (Ley 36/2011).